


Alexandra

by Vaelentine



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:02:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27887995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaelentine/pseuds/Vaelentine
Summary: Hades sends Zagreus a little gift as a bribe to stay in the Underworld. Things don't go as planned.
Relationships: Zagreus (Hades Video Game)/Other(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Alexandra

**Author's Note:**

> I really suck at summaries and titles, so if you decided to read this, go you!  
> This is a repost, because I took this down in self-shame after posting the first time. I wrote more on it, and fixed some clunky stuff, and I'm still not super happy with it, but I'm calling it done.

[Zagreus]

I’m sliding from the river Styx, feeling the thickness of the blood sluice away. This is becoming a disturbingly familiar feeling. So is the sound of father mocking me...again. 

“Couldn’t do better than that, boy? I don’t suppose I expected much. Still,” he goes on in a lighter tone of voice, “You should be rewarded for your efforts. I’ve left you a gift in your room.”

Caution makes my footsteps heavy as I make the turns to my chambers, eyeing Nyx as I pass. She shakes her head, indicating she knows nothing of what my father has in store. I take a breath and step through the arch, expecting something far more unpleasant than what greeted me. 

There is a woman laying on my bed covers, on her side, her back to me. The view I’m presented with is of a supple spine and back as it disappears, naked, into what I assume is a gown of some sort. She’s bedecked as well; golden cuffs crusted with jewels shine on her upper arms, and a golden chain encircles her waist. A golden embossed diadem rests lightly upon her sandy blonde hair, which is swept up and tied back into a loose knot. 

Realizing I’m staring, I clear my throat. She stirs, seemingly having been asleep, and looks around for the source of the noise. Her face is lovely too, if creased in bewilderment. Seeing me, she sits up suddenly, swinging her legs onto the side of the bed and treating me to a view of the front of the white silk gown. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination either. 

“Who are you?” her voice rings out, wavering slightly, “Where am I? And what am I doing here?” The last question came out in a more commanding tone, belying her compact form. This girl is accustomed to being obeyed.

I smile, seeking to put her at ease, “I am Zagreus, son of Hades. And Hades is where you currently reside,” the smile slips from my face, consternation replacing it, “And I suppose you’re here to tempt me into staying in my place.”

“Tempt you…”she starts, then looks down at the bed she rests on. 

Recognition crosses her face, proceeding a slight blush. She pushes off the bed and stands, hands coming to clasp each other in front of her waist. Her thumb worries the other hand, but her gaze remains on me.

“I have no experience in seducing men,” she huffs and her eyes meet mine directly for the first time. They are green as a laurel tree, shot through with tints of brown, “Even less with Godlings.”

“Well, you need not worry about that. I have no intention of staying here,” I turn and stride toward the mirror on the opposite wall. I hear cloth rustle behind me, and her face comes into view. 

“Take me with you,” her voice brokered no argument, hands on her hips in the reflection.

“I’m sorry, but that will not be possible. My escape is rife with danger, and I simply cannot be charged with defending you if I am to succeed. How did you get here anyhow?” I turn from the mirror, “You seem as alive as any mortal.”

“I won’t be a burden-” she starts, answering the first part of my statement, before frowning at the second, “I assume I was sent here as punishment. My mother boasted to everyone she knew that her daughter was more beautiful than Aphrodite, despite my protests that the goddess would hear her and retaliate. I suppose she finally did.”

My eyes widened. Having never met Aphrodite in the flesh, I couldn’t weigh the two, but the girl was exceptionally pretty. Still, her mother was beyond foolish to have compared her to a goddess. 

She interrupted my thoughts, “I have been taught martial arms. I’m good with a bow, as well as a spear and I promise I won’t slow you down. Oh, but I’d need my armor back. The last thing I remember is practising in the yard before...this,” she indicated her current attire with a wave of her hand.

I cocked my head, “I can find your armor-it’s probably somewhere in the house. And I suppose I can’t stop you from following me when I leave, but I won’t be responsible for your protection.”

Her face lit up and she smiled like the sun, making her somehow even more beautiful, “You won’t regret it.”

I motioned for her to stay in the chamber as I made my way back out into the hall. Then I stopped short. I ducked my head back into the room, “What is your name, by the way?”

“Alexandra” She answered. ‘Alexandra’, meaning the defender and helper of humankind. Huh. Perhaps she wouldn’t be completely useless after all. 

My first stop was to Nyx, who still stood in the hall near my room. She was surprised and somewhat disgusted to learn what the ‘gift’ from Hades had entailed. And she didn’t know about Alexandra’s armor. My second try, Hypnos, was much more fruitful. He had been called on to put the girl to sleep in the first place, and had seen Achilles remove her armor to be stored in the armory of the courtyard. 

Jogging back, I passed Nyx again, who waved me aside, “Make sure you are respectful to that unfortunate girl. I can rescind my entreaty to Athena if need be, and I will not see her mistreated.”

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of following through with father’s plans for her,” I made a soothing motion with my hands, “In fact, she’ll be accompanying me to the surface.” Mollified, Nyx let me go on.

I escorted Alexandra to the courtyard behind my rooms where, true to Hypnos’s word, an unfamiliar leather cuirass and set of greaves were resting on an armor stand. At first rushing to them, she reached for the breastplate. She stopped, looking down at the long gown she wore. Grabbing the low-hung back, she tucked it into the garment’s closure at her nape. She then gathered up much of the excess material and with a mighty rip, shortened the dress to the length of a long tunic, exposing probably a bit more leg than she had intended. 

Casting the material aside, Alexandra reached for the cuirass again, buckling it on deftly. She knelt and fastened the greaves to her shins with simple movements, born of repetition and familiarity, which bolstered my confidence in her. She then gripped the diadem still perched on her head. She struggled with it for a moment-it seemingly wouldn’t budge and neither did the bracelets when she pulled at them. She turned to me, and I shrugged, not knowing any more about it than she did. I gestured to my right, offering her the pick of weapons. 

“I think I’ll take the bow, if you favor the sword,” she said, gesturing to the blade slung across my shoulder. I nodded. 

Suitably equipped, she followed me to the nearby window and down into Tartarus itself. 

~

Fighting with her was like a dream. She took out the light, long ranged enemies that had plagued me before, and I dealt with the close heavy hitters. We danced together across rooms, taking challenge after challenge and besting them with grace. She never complained about the frenetic pace, nor seemed to tire, goading me on to push farther into the fray.

As she handily dispatched another enemy, ichor raining down onto her already splattered face, the thought came unbidden to my mind, ‘I’m in love!’ Shaking my head at my own brain, I refocused on the task at hand. The next door had a skull on it. Meg. She had wiped the floor with me too many times already. 

Alexandra confidently strode to the door and broke the seal, gesturing to me to catch up. In the short hallway between rooms, I tried to fill her in on what I’d learned about Megaera’s fighting style and what hadn’t worked in past encounters. She grinned.

“We got this, Godling.”

The following fight went so much smoother than it had in the past, infuriating the fury, so to speak; Alexandra keeping her off balance while I dealt heavy hits to her center. 

We got cocky. I let my guard down for just a moment and Meg dashed behind Alexandra.

With a cry of “You BITCH!” Meg flung the barbed end of the whip into her, spearing all the way through. I ran, swinging the sword in close for the defeating blow. Meg couldn’t compensate with her whip engaged, and fell before me.

Alexandra clasped her stomach as the barb slipped from her middle. Gulping for air, she fell to her knees. I turned to catch her before she hit the ground. With a bellow, I picked her up and raced back to the gate we had come into. Like all the others, it had shut behind us when we entered, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I gingerly set Alexandra down, and began hacking at the gate, livid. Each swing dented the bars, parting them like spirit flesh. Once they were mangled to my content, I picked her back up and ran through. 

The next set of gates were easier, and the next. I don’t think they were designed to withstand a determined attempt to go back. I ran to the window that separated the house from Tartarus, heaving us both through it in one gigantic leap, not stopping to land properly in the courtyard. I slip-slid into my room, calling for Hypnos, shouting for Achilles as an afterthought. When Hypnos entered, I told him to put Alexandra to sleep, as I gently laid her on the bed. Finally Achilles arrived and surveyed the scene. I ran to him, seizing his upper arms.

“Alex is hurt!”

“She’s not hurt, Zagreus. She’s dying,” I turned to look at Hypnos, but he gestured to another figure that had appeared in the room. Thanatos. He leaned on his scythe, gleaming in the low light. 

“How do I stop it?” 

“You can’t. She’s mortal. Mortals die.”

Desperate, I looked around the room, but saw only sorrow. Achilles, whose arms I still grasped, made a small noise and my eyes returned to his.

“There’s always...nectar of the gods,” he said reluctantly, but was quick to quash my growing hope, “But we don’t know what that would do to a mortal. It might have unintended side effects, it might not help at all.” 

My face fell, “I don’t have any. I gave my last bottle to Athena as a gift for her help.”

Achilles said gently, “Well. You know where you can get some.”

Hypnos moved his hands down Alexandra’s eyes, closing them in sleep, “She’ll hold on for a while, yet. She’s a fighter. I’d guess you have about an hour before she slips beyond our grasp.”

I nodded curtly. Then I strode from the room, urgency in every footfall. I had never been angry at the Underworld before. It simply was, there was no use railing at it for existing. But now, I was unstoppable in my rage. Foe after foe fell before me, until I found a door with that ever sweet symbol on it. I cleaved through the enemies in that room too, and grasped the bottle in sweating hands. I tied it to my belt and turned back for home, only to stop short. The gates were shut again, and I didn’t have time to waste cleaving them open again. 

I looked down at my sword. “Well, at least it’s a novel way to die.”

I found a cracked pillar not too far from the entrance and wedged the hilt of the sword into it, until it held level. Then I backed up and ran with all my might.

~

My hands nearly slipped on the bottle as I tilted her head to drink. The glowing orange liquid gave Alexandra’s pallid face a warm glow that had been missing ever since she was struck. Once the bottle was empty, the entire room waited for a response. No one breathed until she did, a small sigh of relief. I watched the wound close itself up and leave a new, pink scar-a vertical line bisecting her otherwise unmarred abdomen. When I looked again, her eyes were open, the hazel pupils now set with a ring of amber. 

“I’m sorry,” Alexandra said, sometime later, “I promised I wouldn’t be a burden and-”

I interrupted her, “Think of it as protecting my investment. I’ve concluded that we have a much better chance at getting out of here as a team than we do separately.”

She smiled and sat up, “Glad you think so.”

Hypnos came forward, his hands outstretched, “You might experience a few odd byproducts from the nectar, but on the whole it seems to have reacted fairly well with your physiology. It seems to have made you more resilient. It won’t keep you from taking hits or another fatal blow. You still are mortal, you know. But it should make you harder to hit,” he went on, “I would suggest you rest a while more before attempting to-”

“No,” Alexandra said, standing up and facing me, “We have work to do, and I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”

I stood as well, nodding, “Let’s get back to it then, shall we?”

~

We passed through many other trials, taking on Lernie, fighting Theseus and his Minotaur in the Elysium Stadium, as well as thousands upon thousands more of the wretches of the Underworld. We beat them all. We even confronted my father, though it was a close call, battling in the snow in a frenzy.

At last we came to a rough hewn tunnel leading upward. I took Alexandra’s hands, “Once we start up, we can’t look back no matter what we hear, or we’ll be dragged back to the Underworld.”

She nodded and took something from a pouch in her cuirass. A small bit of beeswax. Not enough for both of us. She worked the wax to soften it, then put half of it in one of my ears.

“What about you?” I asked

She shook her head, “I’ll hold your hand the whole way up, and just concentrate on staring at your butt. There’s nothing in Hades that could entice me to look back.”

“My..butt?” I said, narrowing my eyes and tilting my head

She flushed immediately a bright red, “Back! I meant back!”

I threw my head back and laughed, the first time since this whole ordeal began. She lobbed the rest of the wax at my chest. I caught it, grinned, and stuffed it in the other ear.

“You just concentrate on my butt and we’ll get through just fine.”

She started to say something, but I just gestured to my stopped up ears. Still grinning, I took her hand and began the long trek toward the first sunlight I had ever seen. 

[Alexandra]

As we took our first steps into the bright day, I was amazed to see we were surrounded by a lush oasis. I had expected a desolate landscape around the entrance to Hades, but I probably should have known better. Persephone, Hades’s wife and Zagreus’s mother, is the Goddess of Spring after all. I squeezed his hand and he made sure we were both truly out of the tunnel before pulling the wax from his ears. 

I felt something shift on my head, and reached up to investigate. The diadem that had refused to budge through the whole ordeal gave the tiniest of metallic pops and split in two. I pulled off both halves as the bands around my upper arms cracked and fell off as well. I stepped up to Zagreus’s side, dropping the metal and unslinging the bow from my back. Tugging on my breastplate, I loosened the buckles until it fell from me and felt the sweaty gossamer of the gown fall back into place just above my hips. I could practically feel his eyes travel with it. 

“Now, about my butt…”

“I said back!-” I whirled around, pointing.

“No, no no. You definitely said butt,” He teased, grabbing the hand pointing at him and pulling me closer. I opened my mouth to contradict him again, but he interrupted before I could, “Alex. You said you had no experience seducing men.” He drew me closer, “Especially Godlings.” Closer, “But I think you’re doing just fine.”

His other hand found the skin of my low back, pulling me the last few inches so he could duck his head and finally kiss me. I shivered as Zagreaus reached down to caress my jaw and deepen the kiss. He tugged me flush to him, and the thin material of the dress didn’t hide the fact that my nipples were beginning to harden. He let go of my hand, and I let it fall to his muscular shoulder as he stroked up the length of my spine. 

I shivered again as he dug both hands deep into my hair and shook out the pins. He broke the kiss suddenly and I saw one had stuck him in the finger, drawing blood. The pins had been long and incredibly sharp, as I had been trained to use everything at my disposal as a weapon. He shook the pin from his finger and dipped back in for another kiss. Without breaking lip contact, he grabbed underneath my butt and lifted me; I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist as he began to move forward. He seemed to be heading for a patch of soft grass that looked inviting. 

When Zagreus had found a suitable place he sat, crossing his legs and settling me in his lap. I was content to kiss her for a while, but I soon found myself tugging on his chiton. He let it fall, but I felt his hands at the nape of my neck, flicking open the clasp of my dress. He fussed with the chain holding it up, stymied by the lack of a closure. He eventually gripped it and pulled, the weak golden links parting easily. The dress pooled, covering my fingers that were busy at work on his belt. I broke the kiss, finding the pulse point of his neck fascinating and in need of my mouth. His heartbeat quickened as he lay me back and divested himself of his pants. I wriggled out of the dress just as quickly as I donned my armor, and his hooded eyes said he was appreciative. 

He was gentle with me, waiting more than once for me to relax into the feelings that were bubbling up inside of me. We moved together, and ran my hands down his back, grasping the butt I so admired. That spurred him on, lifting my leg and setting it at his hip. 

~

I woke to the sound of night insects starting to sing. I sat up slowly, chilled, not knowing why. Zagreus wasn’t there. I clutched my discarded dress to me, offering little protection against the cool evening air and stood, looking around. Still no Zagreus. 

I smacked the base of my palm to my forehead. Stupid! He was divine. He had been getting help from the gods while we were fighting our way out from the Underworld, and if they offered him a way to Olympus, he would have taken it. 

Good. That’s what he had been fighting for, to see his mother. He deserved that happiness. I redid the clasp of my meager dress and stepped out of the bed of grass we had made.

I went back to the mouth of the tunnel and recovered the breastplate I had shed there. On a second thought, I grabbed the pieces of the diadem and arm cuffs as well. I cut down a palm leaf and fashioned it into a kind of knapsack, donned my armor and braided my hair, curling it around my head for ease of travel. 

Finding Coronacht, I weighed the bow. Might as well take it, since it hadn’t disappeared along with the Godling. There might be danger on the road, and it would be good to have a weapon.

I set off in the direction of the setting sun, wanting a bit of distance from the oasis before night fell. I was disappointed, and hated myself for it. Of course Zagreus had gone- that’s where he belonged! With the gods, not with mortals.

I sighed, berated myself for my traitorous tears, and set off at a jog for the faint wisp of smoke I saw in the distance.

[Zagreus]

I woke Alexandra curled against me. I could feel her skin, still damp from our previous activities, pressing against my side and it made me want her again. And again, and again. The noise that had woken me sounded again, curtailing my thoughts, somewhere a ways off from my head. I disentangled myself from Alexandra, pulled on my clothes, grabbed my sword and went to investigate. A yellow bubble floated there, Athena’s symbol recognizably reflected in it. 

I touched the bubble, “In Had- well, MY name, Olympus, I accept this message!”

Athena’s visage appeared before me, clearer than ever. She gestured with a hand, “Come cousin, we have been informed of your success and await you on Olympus!”

“I...ah..” I looked back to where Alexandra lay, blocked from view by the tall grass. I didn’t think that mortals fared very well when seeing the gods in their full glory. I was about to decline Athena’s offer when a bright light whited out my vision. 

~

“Welcome home!”

Of course Hermes would be the first to shout, never in one place long enough for patience. But there-there were my Uncles Posideon and Zeus, my Aunt Hera, and cousins upon cousins upon cousins. They formed a circle around me, slapping my back and offering congratulations on an escape well made. A few faces I didn’t know, but I figured I would get to know in time. Dionysus tapped a keg of good wine, and everyone cleared the way for me. There was one goddess who couldn’t seem to take her shining eyes off my face. With flowers woven into her long wheat colored braids, I had a pretty good idea of who she was.

“Mother?” I asked, suddenly shy.

I needn’t have been. At the sound of my voice, she leapt forward, the tears she’d been holding back spilling over her cheeks. She clasped me tightly in her arms and buried her face into my chest as if she would never surface again. I could barely make out her mumbles.

“My boy. My sweet and brave Zagreus. You have no idea how I mourned for you, thinking you lost all this time,” she leaned back away to see me, touseling my already messy hair. She looked me up and down, “Oh, to see those feet burning again…”

She dissolved into tears once more, quieter this time, but she did not let up on her grasp for some time. I did not have the heart to break her hold before she was ready, and so wrapped my arms around her as well. After she had her fill of squeezing me, she took my hand and lead me over to a comfortable bench, patting the space beside her as she sat. 

“Tell me of your life, your adventures in making it to the surface, tell me everything.”

“My life was fairly boring until the last few days. And even then it was only a struggle to win. Until today. Or it may have been yesterday, time is a bit funny in Hades,” Persephone perked up, interested, “I met a girl named Alexandra. She is fierce and fights fit to be in Artemis’s entourage, though I don’t think she quite qualifies anymore.” His face heated.

Persephone laughed, “Oh? What is this face? Is my only son already struck by wily Cupid’s arrow?” 

I smiled, and told her of how we met. Her face darkened at that, but I was quick to tell my mother about how we both shrugged off the shackle my father had tried to place on us and made our way to the surface. 

“Well, where is this girl? I would like to meet her, I think, if my son holds her in such esteem!”

I felt my face fall, “She’s mortal, mother. Once we got to the surface, Athena called me here soon after that and I had no choice but to come. I had to leave her there, since mortals cannot walk in Olympus.”

“Well, we’ll see. Let me teach you how to visit Earth for a time, so you can go and see her again.”

And, true to her word, she did. It took some work, but once I got the hang of it, it was simple really. Persephone pointed out the location of her garden, where she had originally descended into the Underworld and where we had emerged. Promising my mother I would be right back, and otherwise unable to contain myself, I flew instantly to the oasis. The sun shone down as I walked through the grasses, trying to locate the place where we had lain. I resorted to calling her name before too long, hoping to see that pretty blonde head poke up above the blades. But to no avail. However much time I had passed on Olympus, Alexandra was long gone. 

~

“Please, Aphrodite, I’m not asking for the full story of how you were slighted, simply the name of the town or city the woman had been from. I have nothing of Alex’s, and mother says we can’t find specific mortals on a name and description alone, there are just too many of them.”

“No, it’s out of the question dear cousin. I refuse to think of any detail of that horrid affair, and you’d do well to stop bothering me about it. Unless of course, you want me to banish you back to Hades as well?”

I had one more, desperate trick up my sleeve, “Aren’t you supposed to be the goddess of love? How can you keep me from her?”

She pouted, arm coming to rest on my shoulder, “I feel for you, I really do. But love is fickle that way, dear. You’ll forget her in time,” she withdrew her arm, sauntering off in the other direction.

I hung my head. All the denizens of hell could not keep me from my goals, but now a petite goddess stepped in and ruined my foreseeable future.

[Alexandra]

My city. I stepped down from the cart, breathing in the smells of a busy metropolis. There were people bustling everywhere, and for a moment it caught me aback. It was louder and much more active than Hades had been. Keeping my head down to acclimate myself back to the sense of civilization, I began the long walk up paved roads. Up the hills toward the noble districts, I began looking for my childhood home with the great red door. As always with my family, the door was thrown open during the daytime allowing me to walk in unopposed. It was going on early evening now, and the tables were being set for the last meal of the day. I stepped into the house proper, and looked around at my family.

“Hello mother,” called softly, smiling when her stunned face turned toward mine. 

She rushed to me, crushing me into her arms, “Alexandra! My Alexandra! What happened to you?! We awoke one morning and you were gone, with the symbol of Aphrodite burned into the sand of the training yard. I knew then that I had caused something awful, but we could not discern your fate, no matter how hard we prayed to the gods.” 

“I was in Hades, mother,” I pulled back from her, deciding not to tell her what my purpose in being there had been. “Here, look.” I pulled out the diadem and the remaining piece of the bracelets I had not bartered for food, clothing and passage, “I was dressed in these when I woke in the Underworld. Hades is, after all, the god of precious metals and gems.”

“Why, you must have been treated as an honored guest to be dressed so!”

“I didn’t stay to find out,” I said, tapping at my leather breastplate. Coronacht had disappeared a few days' travel away from the oasis, probably tied to the realm of Hades and its inhabitants.

My mother started, taking in the sweat and dust I was covered in, “Oh my dear. Go on upstairs and have a nice long soak to ease your aching muscles. We have time enough to catch up.”

I smiled gratefully, unslinging my pack and walking to the mantle of the fireplace. I put the two pieces of the diadem in a place of honor. Then I trudged upstairs to my chambers, where a hot bath and comfortable clothes awaited me. 

~

A few hours later, much cleaner and rested, I descended the stairs into the dining hall. A familiar voice came from my left, “Cousin! You’re back!”

I turned to see Cassandra, dressed in a blue peplum with her burnished chestnut hair up in braids, standing at the end of the table, mouth agape. 

I moved to her, arms out for a hug. Cassandra and I had grown up together, but had taken very different paths in life. She leaned into the hug for a moment, before putting me back at arm’s length.

“Alexandra, something is different. You are positively radiant!”

“Nectar of the gods will do that to you,” I shook my head, “It’s a long story.”

“No, it’s not that,” Cassandra said, eyes filming over. Her sight focused on something farther away than any other can see. I cocked my head; I knew Cassandra sometimes had visions, but I hadn’t ever been the subject of one before. 

Her eyes cleared as she said, “You’re carrying a divine gift. A gift of Zagreus?” 

My eyes widened and thunder clapped about the room, a wind making all the candles flutter. Everyone gasped, looking toward the doorway behind me, but I already knew what they were looking at.

“Godling?” I hated that my voice wavered. I turned to look at him. If it was possible, he was more handsome than when I met him, his mismatched eyes more piercing. 

The wind died down as I eyed him. He wore the cocky smile I’d become oh so familiar with, and had the Stygian Blade once again slung over his shoulder. His feet burned patterns in the dust of the entryway as he stepped forward.

[Zagreus]

It had been weeks since I had seen her, and my memory did not do her justice.

“I believe I was summoned?” I stepped up to the table, pulling the Stygian Blade from my shoulder and setting it on the table, within easy reach should any of the males in the room rush me. Or if Alexandra should rush me, for that matter. 

“I didn’t pray to you,” Her eyes narrowed, and her tone had a touch of acid to it. 

“You didn’t have to. Your heart beat louder at the sound of my name. Loud enough I heard it on Olympus, and I followed it here,” I pointed a finger at her, “You are remarkably hard to find, you know,” I grinned, stepping closer and lowering my voice so that only she could hear, “But now, I know that you have something of mine, and I’ll always be able to find you.”

“Something of yours?” I reached out and rested a hand on her still-flat stomach. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open an inch. 

The boom came again, startling us out of our reverie -not thunder, as I’d thought, but I still couldn’t place it. The wind blew, this time blowing all the candles out. But it wouldn’t have made a difference. Hades radiates his own light when he wants to. 

He looked even bigger here than he did in the Underworld, and his voice boomed just as loud, “Here, boy. I knew you’d like my gift. As if I didn’t know what would captivate my son.” 

I swung around, planting myself firmly in front of Alexandra, shielding her, “We beat you, old man. No one here is yours to give!”

Alexandra stepped up beside me, like I ought to have known she would, “Or to keep.”

The rumble sounded again and I placed it this time-it was the sound of a landslide, “I LET you beat me. I LET you go. But you had to earn it, boy. No one gets to Olympus without earning their place. Her included.”

“Her?” I turned to Alexandra, confused as she was.

“She fought alongside you, she earned the reward just as much as you did,” Hades gestured to the table, where a golden bowl had appeared with thin peach colored wafers piled inside, “Proper Abrosia, made from the nectar of the gods, can imbue a mortal with immortality.”

Alexandra’s eyes narrowed again, “What’s the catch?”

I swear Hades smiled, though it was hidden by his beard, “You will be bound by Hades, to Hades. If you weren’t, Aphrodite would have my head for undoing her punishment.”

My chin dropped, though my eyes remained on my father, “In turn practically guaranteeing that I will stay in Hades, too,” he nodded and I could feel Alexandra’s eyes on my face, “She will be treated as princess of Hades,” I demanded.

This time I’m sure Hades smiled. He waved his hand again, and the golden diadem tugged itself up from the dining table. It floated over Alexandra’s head, fused itself with a beam of light, and settled into her hair like it always belonged there. She reached up and touched it tentatively.

“Do I have a choice?” She asked in a small voice, her hand dropping from the diadem, taking my heart with it.

Hades stroked the twin tails of his beard, “I suppose. You may ask for your reward to be to return to your mother. I will grant that, if that is the boon you seek, and deal with Aphrodite on my own.”

She nodded, as solemn as Hades, “But then I wouldn’t be with Zagreus, right?”

“Yes. He is divine, and therefore bound to either Olympus or the Underworld,” Hades almost sounded regretful. 

My eyes were on the floor, so I was startled when a hand very suddenly entered my vision. I followed it up the arm and to Alexandra’s face. She was still looking at Hades.

“Give me the Ambrosia.”

I had to swallow quickly, as my heart had leapt from the floor to my throat. I don’t think I was processing what she had said, because I simply reached over and took one of the wafers from the bowl. Bypassing her hand, I extended it to her mouth. My hand was shaking, and she finally looked at me. The smallest of smiles tilted the corner of her mouth, and I breathed again. She leaned forward, her eyes falling closed as she did, and bit into the first taste of divinity.

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at writing sex scenes. I'm always so embarrassed or I go soft-core fade to black.


End file.
